Probably not exactly what you want to hear, but speaking from an advancing age, I have to consider safety. I stand directly in front of my range and its two ovens. Bending to pull out any of the racks needs to be done calmly and with purpose. My ovens give me a greater chance of burns because the space is so tightly allocated inside them, I have to be able to see and reach carefully. The upper oven even has one rack that is specially made just so I can pull it out without dragging my knuckles on the hot range door.

Your results may vary.
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In my old 8-foot wide kitchen (corridor open on both ends) we staggered the dishwasher and the range across from one another so that we could open both if necessary. When either was open, though, all traffic stopped. The 4 feet across aisle was sufficient, for a single cook and for non-aggressive, extremely polite two cooks. In little kitchens used by families, you have to make usage rules and we had plenty of them.

We will have no appliances across from the range, just cabinets. We already deal with the "range open, all traffic stops" rule. (And our kids will be gone--this kitchen project is a therapy project for when our last two (twins) go off to college and I feel bereft!)

Anyone else standing partially to the side like I do (or at least think I do)? I would be interested in hearing from owners of ranges with easy-rolling racks. It would seem to me that working from an angle would be easier with those rack.s

NYCBD, are you straddling the corner of the open oven door when you stand like you do? I'm trying to visualize it. I have to center my weight and balance before getting a hot dish out of the oven, even with the assistance of a rolling rack, so I'm always front and center when I open the oven.

I've lived with a long narrow NYC kitchen (15' x 7') with cabs on both sides, and the owner who redid the kitchen put the range directly across from the only doorway so the cook could stand in front of the open oven door without his/her back and butt scraping the cabinets across the aisle. It was bad for traffic flow but the only safe and feasible one with such a narrow kitchen. Would that work in your plan?

IMO, a kitchen in which a cook can't stand and maneuver in front of an open oven door has a major design and safety flaw. Could you make the cabs across from the range shallow ones for dish storage and cut in the counter there?

Thanks Zeebee. Yes, I am straddling the door. Even though I don't use the oven that frequently, I am roasting a chicken tonight for the very purpose of determining for sure how it would be if I only used that position. I think I straddle the door now because it is already such a close measurement and I feel crowded.

As it stands now, my cabinets across from the range are shallower--they set back right as the range begins. I would like to revert to a full size cabinet if possible. While I could keep the cabinet shallower, it would mean having a setback directly next to the sink (this currently isn't an issue because my dishwasher is to the left of my sink--I am swapping the placement in the new design). If the counter depth were to be reduced immediately to the left of the sink, I would be afraid of constantly having things fall off the counter. But having the dishwasher closer to the range than the sink is one of the things that I hate about the current layout so I am determined to change that.

Regarding the placement of the range across from the doorway, something similar to that was my first design idea. It is probably hard to picture without a drawing but as nice as the Blue Star is (at least I think so), I would prefer not to see if from the foyer and dining room, which is what would happen if I went with my first design idea (the one that you apparently have.

They just didn't make these apartments too friendly for modern living!

Some of the original kitchens in our former apt line were the same width. It was very common. One was done as you are suggesting and it was not something I would ever recommend.

Not only did it really, really hurt the apartment sale but it made the kitchen physically unpleasant.

I'd take that 30" on the opposite wall and put in a 14" deep bottom cabinet with hanging space or a plate rack above -- you can get a ton of stuff in one of those. That's what they do in Europe. That way oven can be accessed safely.

Trust there will be an air con in the kitchen or the apartment has central air.

I stand to the side of the door. Our aisle is nice and wide so there is plenty of room to stand in front of it, but I'm short and my reach is short so I find it difficult to reach over the door and pull out the racks from in front without getting my body or arm too close to the door - especially for the upper oven (we have wall ovens).

I'm kind of regretful that the BlueStar ovens with French doors came out after our remodel was done - but having them would have required a bit of additional plumbing to bring gas to that spot. And we still might not have gotten them because they don't have self-clean and I'm spoiled. Sigh!

can you post a layout?

Cloud swift, thanks for answering my question. I am short too. I think that has a lot to do with why I stand to the side. I just put my chicken in the oven and did not stand in front. So the two 24" cabinets may just work.

I have a bit of time to figure it out. I will post the designs I get from my KD later this week.

I'm short, too and I tend to stand straddling the corner. If I stood squarely behind the oven door with both feet, I couldn't easily reach into the oven.

Helene

I'm short and I straddle, too, even though at present I have 15 feet in front of the oven (and even my aging backside doesn't require that much room!) I have a 48" range with double ovens arranged next to each other. I use a wooden hook or pot holders to pull out the oven racks and then pick up the cooking vessel and pivot towards one of the front burners or my unique, centered, slab 'o granite that replaced the unused chargrill section. I'm thinking that when my new kitchen happens I will probably have plunk space on the island just opposite the range - it will be closer and more convenient, I think. If I have to open one oven after the other then I must close the near one to reach the far one. I think my ovens are relatively higher than most as they are definitely not low.

I think the sideways approach to the oven feels more ergonomically correct, to me. Somehow the cooking vessel is closer to my body, so I do less of the stretch/reaching/lifting that's supposed to be hard on your back.

Does that help?

L.

Sometimes I stand in front, sometimes to the side. I think I sometimes straddle like you do. My kitchen is sort of galley like, though it is almost 9' wide. I've been eyeing a GE Cafe range with two ovens (smaller one on top). I believe the doors are shorter than a standard oven. I wonder if something like that would work better in your narrow space because the oven doors wouldn't open so far into the walkway.

I'm pretty sure I stand in front of the oven. I also have a 2nd oven that opens from the side. Are you reusing your oven or buying a new one? If so the side opening might work for you.

Thanks folks. First, I am glad that I am not the only one who does this straddling thing! Your feedback is really helpful.

I can't do an electric oven because of the limited electric loads in our prewar building, so I need to do an all-gas range. I would love to get the BS gas ovens and have just a cooktop but don't have the wall space for the wall ovens.

The BS 36" range does offer the ability to open the door from the side but the door swing will be too big to open the door fully. I will only have about 31" counter to counter. (That is what I have now by the sink and DW and it is really fine since I am really the only cook.) Oh how I wish that they would have offered the french door on the range.

However, I am going to check one more time--maybe the side door could work if the door swing is not too big.

At least the BS oven door is much smaller than what I have now (probably like the GE Cafe), so I figure that the loss of aisle will probably even out with the shorter door.

Can you mock it up with some cardboard and tape? Make yourself an oven "door" in the size of the range you're planning with tape as a hinge. Then box out your current shallow side to full size cabinetry with more cardboard. And then see how opening the "door" works for you. See where you have to stand and if you can reach safely across that door.